|
pocketbooks and with fixtures that they've had over a number of years and pushing them,
<br />you're going to get some vocal opposition. To me it's much more important that we contain the
<br />growth of bad lighting in Orange County. Time will take care of itself. You know that the
<br />International Dark Skies made a huge effort in Manhattan, which most people would think is an
<br />impossible task and they didn't even do it by retrofitting. But what happens is that in Manhattan
<br />because of the aggressive retailing environment, facades are redone; often, store windows are
<br />redesigned; storefronts are redesigned, and every time it is renovated, it has to conform. Within
<br />ten years they did an unbelievable job of reducing vertical light pollution out of Manhattan. Of
<br />course, the problem is everything around Manhattan is still non - conforming. That was the
<br />reason I said that. Not that it would not be ideal to do that, but, my personal feeling is that it is
<br />very important to get this on the books and functional, and protect us from what could happen in
<br />a rapid developing period without any ordinance."
<br />Moses Carey. Jr. "So you don't think we have a perfect world here ?"
<br />Ron Osborne "No." (Laughed)
<br />Moses Carey, Jr. "Thank you."
<br />Ron Osborne "If I can make a brief comment on your question, as well. The suggestion I would
<br />like to propose is that the Ordinance address all new installations initially, and, then, maybe be
<br />revisited in incremental steps to see, if, based on its efficacy, does it need to go back and revisit
<br />retrofitting.
<br />"The retrofitting issue is problematic from several standpoints. Number one is, just as it
<br />has been mentioned; it's going to get into someone's pocketbook. Someone's light goes out and
<br />then all of a sudden you inform them, 'Oh, by the way, now we're going to have to up that,
<br />fixture or whatever. It's going to be an increased cost. I think the important thing to do would be
<br />to stop the bleeding based on the new installations. And, then, over time, I think that the
<br />grandfathered or the existing installations would probably be addressed, because eventually
<br />they do wear out. Eventually lightning strikes and things hit things. But what we would desire
<br />from Duke Power's standpoint is something that does not place an undue burden on the
<br />consumer and that can be done in an orderly and logical fashion.
<br />"You may have a situation, and it could be a municipality or a County agency or private
<br />party that has a whole system of lights. One light needs to be replaced. Because it's replaced
<br />and does not match the rest of the system, it could impact the, not only the esthetics but the
<br />illumination quality of that system. So, it needs to be looked at more carefully than just a
<br />wholesale retrofit that gets triggered. I would like to offer you that Duke Power wants to be a
<br />good steward of the system that we have, and we want to make sure that we are making the
<br />best decisions for the community because we live here, too. I look forward to the day, I live in
<br />southern Alamance County, I look forward to the day that Alamance County has some sort of
<br />ordinance, again, that is not reactive, but it is proactive. That is what I would hope that Orange
<br />County pursues.
<br />Barry Jacobs "May I ask Mr. Osborne a question? How much does it cost to install a shield on
<br />one of the sodium vapor street lights ?"
<br />Ron Osborne "When you say a shield, there are two types. There's what's called a nemahead,
<br />which is what you see in most people's backyards. The bulb is in there vertically. And for years,
<br />things were done like paint the sides of them, or whatever. That's not proved to be very
<br />effective. Duke Power ceased the practice of doing that about five years ago. There are
<br />probably some of them out there, but it's just not very effective. Cost wise, I don't know what the
<br />cost of the actual material would be, but the cost of sending somebody out there and performing
<br />the work, especially if that cost is not passed on to somebody, which ultimately it would be,
<br />
|